Vroman’s Wins 'PW’s' Bookseller of the Year

by Kevin Howell -- Publishers Weekly, 3/11/2008 9:00:00 AM

One of the oldest bookstores in the country, 114 year-old Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif., has been named Publishers Weekly's Bookseller of the Year.

The bookstore was founded in 1894 by Adam Clark Vroman. “He believed in books, philanthropy, community and people: his employees and his customers,” said Allison Hill, Vroman’s president and COO. “We honor his legacy by staying true to those core values. We gauge our success by our ability to run a profitable business while committing ourselves to doing the right thing for our employees, for our customers and for our community.”

Vroman’s offers a profit sharing plan to employees  to recognize and reward their contribution to the store’s success. Last year, $80,000 was contributed to the plan for the benefit of employyes. The store also offers staff scholarships for booksellers who wouldn’t normally be attending the ABA’s winter institute or the BEA.

“I could wax poetic for pages on what a great service they provide to their community, their responsiveness to customers, their ability to handsell staff favorites, the quality of their selection, the way their listen to their sales reps, how well they promote their events, etc. etc. etc,” said Macmillian rep Marshall Presnick.

Every year, Vroman’s participates in the ABA’s ABACUS report and for the last four years it ranked in the high profitability category, scoring above average in every category. “Our success is not measured in numbers alone,” said Hill. “We see our mission as a bookstore and as an employer as bigger than the bottom line.”

Vroman’s Bookstore (www.vromansbookstore.com) will be honored at PW’s 16th annual award ceremony (along with PW’s Rep of the Year, which will be announced later this week) at this year’s BEA in Los Angeles.